Unique crushed carambola product achieves 3-star OCOP rating.

STO - Carambola fruit is commonly used to make snacks such as crushed carambola, candied carambola, or sweet and sour pickled carambola... Recognizing the economic value of this fruit, Mr. Ngo Tuan Thanh - Director of Thien Loc Food Production and Trading Company Limited, Ward 7, Soc Trang City (Soc Trang) - used fresh carambola to process crushed carambola and, in a short time on the market, the company's crushed carambola product achieved 3 OCOP stars.

To see this unique product firsthand, we visited the canarium fruit processing facility of Thien Loc Food Production and Trading Co., Ltd., where Mr. Ngo Tuan Thanh took us on a tour of his canarium fruit orchard. The orchard, covering over 7,000 square meters, ^is intercropped with other plants, but the canarium fruit stands out because of its tall stature and the abundance of white blossoms it's currently displaying. Mr. Tuan Thanh shared: "Canarium fruit can be harvested year-round, only ceasing to bear fruit in May to allow the trees to flower and bear fruit. Canarium fruit is abundant in July, August, and September, and the trees maintain a continuous supply of fruit, ensuring a consistent raw material for producing crushed canarium fruit for the market."

Mr. Ngo Tuan Thanh - Director of Thien Loc Food Production and Trading Company Limited, Ward 7, Soc Trang City (Soc Trang province) introduces the crushed carambola product which achieved 3-star OCOP in 2022. Photo: THUY LIEU

Recounting the story of the crushed carambola fruit, Mr. Tuan Thanh continued: "My family's carambola orchard used to be mainly grown for personal consumption and small-scale sales, yielding negligible income. Although I saw fruit falling all over the ground, I didn't pay attention to them because I was busy with many other things. However, when the pandemic hit in 2021, all my work temporarily stopped. Seeing that the carambola trees, despite minimal care, still bore abundant fruit, I suddenly had the idea to try making crushed carambola to sell on the market. Thinking it over, I immediately started researching and processing the carambola to maintain its freshness, especially without using any preservatives. To make the crushed carambola product, I bought many types of machinery and equipment and spent more than a month researching before finally producing the finished product. Initially, the crushed carambola still had its seeds intact, but when I brought it to market, consumers still loved it, and I thought the carambola product was a success. But one time, while at the supermarket..." "I saw that the pits had been removed from the pits of the pickled apricots, and from that, I invested over 400 million VND in the necessary machinery to process crushed and pitted carambola fruit. After nearly half a year of research and numerous failures, the seedless crushed carambola product was successfully launched on the market. Customers preferred it more, and sales increased significantly compared to before."

After packaging the product, he didn't focus much on the external packaging, prioritizing the quality of the product inside. Fortunately, upon learning about the unique and novel characteristics of his crushed carambola product, the relevant departments in Soc Trang city provided support in terms of packaging. The new packaging significantly increased the product's value. Based on this support, he continued to improve the packaging and registered for the OCOP (One Commune One Product) star rating for his crushed carambola product, which was awarded a 3-star OCOP rating in 2022.

According to Mr. Tuan Thanh, his company maintains its production rate of crushed carambola, using 100-150 kg of fresh fruit per day and employing 10 workers. To make the product convenient for consumers, the crushed carambola is packaged in 500g boxes, priced at 85,000-95,000 VND per box depending on the location. Besides direct sales, he also sells on TikTok, Facebook, Zalo, and at two stores in Can Tho City and Soc Trang City. In addition to carambola, Mr. Tuan Thanh also produces seedless canned gooseberries, which are also popular with consumers, and he plans to submit this product for OCOP (One Commune One Product) evaluation and ranking in the near future.

According to Mr. Tran Hoang Dung, Head of the Department of Agricultural Product Quality Management and Rural Development of Soc Trang province, as of now, Soc Trang province has 263 OCOP-certified products, including 1 potential 5-star OCOP product, 26 4-star OCOP products, and 236 3-star OCOP products from 150 businesses. Most of the OCOP-certified products are processed from local agricultural products and fruits. Specifically, the carambola fruit, a common fruit, has been transformed by its producers into value-added products, contributing to a good market for the product and creating more jobs for workers.

THUY LIEU

Source: https://baosoctrang.org.vn/thuong-mai-dich-vu/202505/doc-dao-san-pham-ca-na-dap-dap-dat-3-sao-ocop-cba4902/